The Shroud

This book scientifically challenges earlier radiocarbon testing and presents new evidence in determining the Shroud of Turin's true age.

‘Shroud will not be easily surpassed for its combination of wit, moral complexity and compassion. It is hard to see what more a novel could do’ Irish Times Dark secrets and reality unravel in Shroud, the second of John Banville's three novels to feature Cass Cleave, alongside Eclipse and Ancient Light. Axel Vander, distinguished intellectual and elderly academic, is not the man he seems. When a letter arrives out of the blue, threatening to unveil his secrets – and carefully concealed identity – Vander travels to Turin to meet its author. There, muddled by age and alcohol, unable always to distinguish fact from fiction, Vander comes face to face with the woman who has the knowledge to unmask him, Cass Cleave. However, her sense of reality is as unreliable as his, and the two are quickly drawn together, their relationship dark, disturbed and doomed to disaster from its very start.

The famed linen cloth preserved in Turin Cathedral has provoked pious devotion, scientific scrutiny, and morbid curiosity. Imprinted with an image many faithful have traditionally believed to be that of the crucified Christ "painted in his own blood," the Shroud remains an object of intense debate and notoriety yet today. In this amply illustrated volume, John Beldon Scott traces the history of the unique relic, focusing especially on the black-marble and gilt-bronze structure Guarino Guarini designed to house and exhibit it. A key Baroque monument, the chapel comprises many unusual architectural features, which Scott identifies and explains, particulary how the chapel's unprecedented geometry and bizarre imagery convey to the viewer the supernatural powers of the object enshrined there. Drawing on early plans and documents, he demonstrates how the architect's design mirrors the Shroud's strange history as well as political aspirations of its owners, the Dukes of Savoy. Exhibiting it ritually, the Savoy prized their relic with its godly vestige as a means to link their dynasty with divine purposes. Guarini, too, promoted this end by fashioning an illusionary world and sacred space that positioned the duke visually so that he appeared close to the Shroud during its ceremonial display. Finally, Scott describes how the additional need for an outdoor stage for the public showing of the relic to the thousands who came to Turin to see it also helped shape the urban plan of the city and its transformation into the Savoyard capital. Exploring the mystique of this enigmatic relic and investigating its architectural and urban history for the first time, Architecture for the Shroud will appeal to anyone curious about the textile, its display, and the architectural settings designed to enhance its veneration and boost the political agenda of the ruling family.

The Shroud of Turin has been the focus of extensive study by historians and researchers since the beginning of the twentieth century. It is possibly the world’s most studied historical artifact, generating a regular flow of new research publications. There is, however, one scientific test that overshadows all other research: the 1988 radiocarbon dating. This test dated the cloth to the period 1260–1390AD and was given such extensive publicity that most people today no longer accept the Shroud to be a true relic. Sadly, very few people are aware that this test has been widely criticized for falling short of acceptable scientific standards. Similarly, most people remain unaware of the wealth of compelling evidence that contradicts the conclusions of that test and supports claims of the Shroud’s authenticity. This book reveals extracts from secret discussions on dating evidence from the Shroud Science Group, a private, international forum of Shroud researchers and provides a detailed account of the dating evidence revealed by over a hundred years of research. It outlines reasons why the 1988 radiocarbon dating test continues to attract criticism from respected scientists and also describes a series of innovative flax dating techniques which have recently been used measure the age of Shroud material, producing results that contradict the radiocarbon date.

One of the first books written in the U.S. since 1988 that presents the Shroud of Turin as the authentic burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth. The author, a medical doctor, takes us on a scientific and scriptural search (with more than 70 revealing photographs) that allows us to decide for ourselves whether the ancient cloth has any meaning for us today. A companion video that traces the story of the shroud from Turin to Jerusalem is also available. In 1961, while poking around in a used bookstore in Boston, Lavoie stumbled across a paperback called A Doctor at Calvary, by French surgeon Pierre Barbet. As Lavoie thumbed through the pages, he discovered that Barbet was writing not about Jesus' crucifixion but about the Shroud of Turin, a piece of cloth that contained the bloody image of a naked man. Thus began Lavoie's 30-year quest to uncover the true origins of the Shroud and to reveal its mysteries. In this well-told scientific and theological detective story, Lavoie offers a step-by-step account of his attempts to prove that the Shroud of Turin could well have been the shroud that covered Jesus as he was taken from his cross to his tomb. In order to show that the marks on the cloth are indeed blood stains, Lavoie discusses the nature of blood as it clots, especially when those clots are covered with cloth. Through various experiments, he is able to conclude: "blood clots transfer to cloth as mirror images of themselves; the neatness of the transfers is related to the fact that the man of the shroud died in the vertical position; the time the clots take to transfer to cloth coincide closely with the gospel timetable of the death and burial of Jesus." Lavoie is on his firmest footing when he sticks to his scientific theories, but when he begins to argue in the final chapters that John's gospel and letters indicate that John possessed the shroud and was hiding it from his audience, he treads shakier speculative ground.

Numerous studies have been carried out on Byzantine coins, but there are still no univocal interpretations on the details of the figures represented there and in particular on those relating to Jesus Christ. The information derived from the studies on the Holy Shroud, the most important Relic of Christ in Christianity, has clearly resulted in some new interpretations. This is the first book in the world that deals extensively with the effigy of Christ, despite being the most sought after and collected by numismatists. Furthermore, the book relates the different images of the Redeemer on Byzantine coins with the image of Jesus Christ on the Shroud, the most important Relic of Christianity. The numerous collectors will therefore be interested in having not only a numismatic analysis of these coins but also a historical-religious study. This book, which should be understandable to everyone, demonstrates the strong influence that the Shroud had in the Byzantine era.

Relying on new scientific research, the author presents a detailed argument that the Shroud of Turin belonged to Jesus.

Shrouds have long held a special place among the sacred relics of Christendom. In the Middle Ages, shrouds, like holy relics, were the prize possessions of churches and cities. Cloaked in mystery, these artifacts have long been objects of reverence and awe, as well as sources of debates, quarrels, thefts, and excommunications. Shrouds--so some claim--provide visible testimony to faith. One in particular has drawn the interest of scholars, clergy, and the public alike: the Shroud of Turin. In The Shroud of Turin, Andrea Nicolotti chronicles the history of this famous cloth, including its circuitous journey from the French village of Lirey to its home in the Italian city of Turin, as well as the fantastical claims surrounding its origin and modern scientific efforts to prove or disprove its authenticity. Full of intrigue and mystery, The Shroud of Turin dismantles hypotheses that cannot survive the rigors of historical analysis. Nicolotti directly addresses the thorny problem of the authenticity of the relic and the difficult relationship between history, faith, and science.